Filipinos unveil statue of beatified John Paul II

A Catholic bishop arranges a wooden cross presented to beatified John Paul II during his 1981 visit in Bataan. AP

MORONG, Philippines—Hundreds of Filipinos have unveiled a statue of the just-beatified Pope John Paul II at a former processing center for Indochinese refugees.

The late pontiff was highly popular in the Philippines, Asia’s largest predominantly Roman Catholic nation. He visited the Philippines twice during his 27-year papacy, drawing millions of faithful.

The life-size statue inside a bamboo pavilion portrays the pope standing on a boat with an Indochinese refugee family. The statue, which was unveiled Monday, faces an open field where he celebrated Mass for tens of thousands of refugees and Filipinos on February 21, 1981.

A wooden cross presented by Vietnamese refugees to the pope 30 years ago was erected on the side of the shrine.

From 1980 to 1994, the UN-funded processing center housed 400,000 refugees who had fled their homelands after the Vietnam War and were seeking resettlement in other countries. The 365-hectare center in western Bataan province’s Morong township was later converted to a techno park.

Bishop Ruperto Santos said Monday that the memorial shrine demonstrates Filipinos’ deep reverence for the pope.

Monsignor Victor Ocampo, then parish priest of Morong, said the visit of the pope in 1981 uplifted the spirit of thousands of refugees at the center who were told that “they are not a burden but they are the Christ to the church because whatever you do to the neglected people you do to Christ.”

Sarah Duran, now 42, was an elementary school pupil when the pope visited Morong in 1981.

“When I saw him, it was a different feeling, I can’t explain it, but we were so happy,” she added.

High school senior Paul John Tungol, 16, was among the youth at the shrine’s inauguration. He said he was born during the pope’s second Philippine visit in 1995 and was named after him.

Fr. Ramon Mariano, a parish priest in a Morong village, said five out of 17 children he baptized Sunday were named John Paul, a testament to Filipinos’ love for the late pope.

The shrine’s inauguration not only honors Pope John Paul II but also shows the church’s concern for oppressed people like the Indochinese refugees, he added.

Former First Lady Imelda Marcos, who helped build the refugee camp, was the guest of honor.

She said that during the Mass celebrated in 1981, she saw from the crowd “how much people of different cultures, of different religions believed there was a God and a creator of mankind.”

She expressed confidence that the late pope’s sainthood would be confirmed.